NIALL Quinn has revealed he and Roy Keane hardly celebrated Sunderland’s promotion to the Premiership as they were already worrying about how to keep them there.

Keane’s attitude to promotion was summed up by the Black Cats manager’s refusal to allow the team to have a parade through the city centre to celebrate the promotion triumph.

And Quinn has admitted he has had to adopt a similar approach as the two Irishmen plan how to ensure they have the players needed to prevent them suffering another immediate return to the Championship.

The Wearsiders expect to be able to announce the arrival of several new faces at the Stadium of Light in the next fortnight as Quinn insisted nobody should underestimate the size of the challenge that awaits them next season.

“I try not to look back at last season, it’s over, it’s history,” said Quinn, who is confident England Under-21 international David Nugent will choose to sign for Sunderland this week rather than Portsmouth.

“It’s all about this year now. In two months’ time, three or four games into the new season, last year will be totally forgotten by everybody, it’ll be gone. I have to be ahead of the posse on that.

“As for Roy, I don’t think he has ever been excited. He has a conviction and his focus is purely on what needs to be done and where we need to go. It’s a determination, but it’s not an excitement.”

Given Sunderland’s last two disastrous campaigns in the top flight – they hold the record for the two lowest points totals in Premier League history – and the high profile of their manager, the Black Cats will be under the spotlight as soon as the new season starts.

With such interest comes pressure, but it is a pressure Quinn is delighted to embrace after his Drumaville consortium’s takeover bid transformed the mood of the club and the city last year.

He said: “We’re here for the pressure. Nobody’s here because we thought the Premiership was somewhere easy to get to and we could lie back. That would be fatal, to say we’re in the Premiership, isn’t it great and take it easy. We’re in it, but we have to do is fight, give no quarter and be as well prepared as any football club is. Coming in with fear is not our way of thinking.

“It’s a respect; it’s a hugely healthy place to be, and we’re delighted we’re here, but it’s like oxygen, we need it, we want it and we’ve got to take as much of it as we can and be as greedy and selfish in wanting to do well in a way that may take people by surprise.”

Sunderland have not had the big impact in the transfer market some predicted so far this summer with only two new arrivals – right-back Greg Halford and centre-back Russell Anderson. But Quinn is still confident that, despite a competitive market place, the Black Cats still have something unique to offer players who choose to move to the North-East.

He added: “The market is very, very hot. The new money in there certainly has made the Premiership a tough place to do business, but we’ll give it our best shot. We’d like to think we’ve a lot to offer a would-be signing at this club.

“Physically, if someone comes to us to see the football club, they’ll walk away with a great impression, the training ground, the stadium, the support. On the playing side, you look at a manager like Roy Keane and I know that if I was a player with ability and wanted to show the world what I could do, I know that I could learn from him. We think he’s a fantastic attraction to signings.”

Quinn added: “And I know we have to be up there competing financially.

“But they (Drumaville) are up for it, they’ve been very good, we had a very good meeting recently and they’re full steam ahead. It’s going the right way.”